AO 6 Ch 11

The massive flaming wyrm of magic hurtled towards me, the flames roaring through the air.

“Ard!” Emlyn yelled and threw her hands forward, borrowing some of my lightning magic and trying to add to the defense.

"A little busy.” I burned the idea of the light shields into my mind, reinforcing them with the concepts that Melida had taught me when I first started. All the magic in the world did nothing without a firm will holding the idea of what you wanted to make.

“Then why aren't you doing something? Throw soul magic at it!" Emlyn yelled back as the worm of fire hurtled towards us.

“The light shields are up, I have no idea what light soul magic will do.” I growled out, bracing for the massive spell heading our way.

This chancellor wasn’t holding back, from what I knew they were all connected back to King Martin and drawing on the same soul and therefore the same pool of magic. This was by extension, King Martin’s strength.

Even Maribelle's skin became rough with bumps as she pressed me to her back, prepared to take some of the blow head on.

I was too busy snapping the shields together like a phalanx in front of us before the massive serpent of fire smashed into the shield. 

Cyam was being a good boy and following the plan, but as a result, he was also hurtling himself directly towards the blast. 

With his speed, we blew through quickly, but my shields had shattered and the edges of my robes caught fire. If I hadn't been sandwiched between two anchors doing their best to protect me, I was afraid of what would have happened.

Anger rippled off of Maribelle at the other mage as large chunks of her blonde curls fell away, having been burned off by the fire, only for them to start regrowing.

Given that I could only see her from behind, I couldn’t see the rest, but knew it had to be bad the way she wasn’t showing me.

"Do you really need to use his life magic for that? Some of us also want to tap into it." Emlyn grumbled, one of her gloves was gone and her hand looked like a hunk of meat left too close to the fire.

"It would be shameful of me to not look my best in front of Sir," Maribelle stated, but didn't turn, which told me that she was not feeling as done up as she liked to be at all times.

"Doesn't matter, Maribelle, we're going to get through this." I offered encouragement.

"Why don't you use your dark magic and swallow what's about to come?" Maribelle pointed at the other mage that was clearly close to finishing his spell. 

"And what, risk burning all the food we just worked so hard to just attain?" I snarked back at her. 

“Maybe try light soul magic. Maybe it does something worthwhile.” Emlyn was grasping at straws as the chancellor spun up another large spell.

"Now isn't the time to play with magic. I need to use what I already reliably understand," I clicked my tongue. "Really, I would expect the foolhardy thing from me, not you, Emlyn. Don’t you dare make me be the responsible one."

"Shut up and do something," she growled behind me. 

"I am. Be patient." I had leaned into the banter to ease my nerves. Truthfully, that was bordering on a Grand Spell, he probably had one up his sleeves, but it would take him longer to spin up than he had.

This other mage was going to use fire, so I was going to retaliate with ice magic, particularly that infused with my soul magic.

I was pouring my soul into the fox sphere and then dumping all of that glimmering ice magic into my soul for, let's call it safekeeping, though I wasn't entirely sure what I was about to do would be considered safe.

Right now, an unprecedented amount of soul magic was swimming around in my soul. Both Emlyn and Maribelle were connected to me and should have been able to feel the power building. Soulgard had basically been turned into a winter wonderland, taking on the changes in my soul and swirling blizzards coated the central palace and all four spires. 

As my power was building, the other mage let loose a red bolt of lightning with flames flickering like some sort of heavily condensed fire magic only for it to solidify into a lance. It streaked out from between his hands, burning the air where it passed through and rushing straight for us.

I flung my hand out, the ice soul magic snapping into a shield, rushing forward to meet that burning lance of fire. The two collided in what looked like a stalemate. However, I could feel my soul magic rapidly melting away every second it held the lance in place. 

"Cyam, don't watch. Just run.” I grabbed the horse's head and pointed him in the direction we needed to go. 

Cyam tossed his head to free it before once again leaning into the run and turning our surroundings into a blur. The several mages that had come to intercept us were hot on our trail. Several others were using light magic to fly and picking up those who weren't to bring them along.

It seemed we had a chase on our hands.

To my surprise, several of them were actually able to reasonably keep up with Cyam, though none of them were making up for lost ground. That meant that this race would turn into a run to see who would tire of using magic first.

“I knew this was a stupid plan.” Emlyn looked over her shoulder at those following us.

“We have the food and a four sphere mage getting away.” Maribelle shot a look over her shoulder at Emlyn. “We’ll be fine.”

They showed no signs of giving up. Yet, even as the game of cat and mouse continued, they didn’t launch any attacks. Those using light magic were focusing on keeping up and the rest weren’t able to fire anything that wouldn’t peter out while we raced ahead.

Instead, we were chased over the row of watchtowers and into the Badlands. 

"Oh, Emlyn," I said, "I may have forgotten to mention. There was a second part of our plan."

She grabbed me by the shoulder, turning my head to look into my eyes. "You didn't tell me the entire plan?" She narrowed her eyes.

"Well, I wasn't sure if you'd like the last part." I gave her my most charming smile.

"Oh, that's... that's never good," Emlyn groaned. 

"Don't worry. We have reinforcements." I told her, watching as she relaxed. 

"Oh, are the goddesses coming to help?" Emlyn smiled, hope returning to her eyes.

"Something like that," I replied, looking away quickly, unable to suppress the humorous smile cracking on my face.

Her own joy was short-lived. "I don't like that look.” Emlyn braced her body, waiting for whatever I would do next.

“Here we go!" While I was talking to her, I was slowly doing magic with my other hand, instructing Cyam to fly lower to the ground.

The other mages followed quickly, entering deep enough into the Badlands that even the watchtowers with their spyglasses couldn't see what happened next. 

I launched two blue beads of fire behind me, only to detonate them when the mages got close.

They managed to swerve at the last second, shielding themselves in the process, and sped back up. But that distance let us widen our lead before I dropped another two beads of fire. 

"Wait, Ard, if you do... Oh," Emlyn made a noise of understanding as the next two hits exploded, and Cyam circled south back towards where we had first encountered the crab.

I paused for a brief moment, deciding I really needed to name my newest pet crab. 

"Ard, don't you think you're playing with fire a little too much?" Emlyn sighed.

"Me? Play with fire? Just the other day, Emlyn, weren't you encouraging me to play with soul fire? Which has to be like ten times worse." I offered.

She smacked her face and dragged her hand down it.

"Does Zuri know about this part of the plan?" Emlyn asked.

"It was implied," I smiled. "I'm fairly certain her, Aurelia, and the goddesses understood that's why they didn't come.” There had been more than a few glances amongst the group as we discussed the plan and my escape.

Maribelle turned around from where she was in the front. “Really, I think you're the only one who didn't realize Ard was going to summon the crab."

"I didn't consider the pursuers." Emlyn closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath and opening them back up. "I understand. You win this round, Ard."

"I win every round," I smiled as my next batch of soulfire beads exploded. With these hits, a massive crab claw shot up, smacking one of the mages that'd been pursuing us out of the air. 

"Woohoo!" I cheered. "One down, two to go," I said.

The crab fully emerged and tried to take out another group, but we were all moving far too quickly for Snappy.

Giving up for the moment, it sank back into the ground, which did not work for my current plan.

I circled back towards it, slowly dropping beads of soulfire and trying to keep the other two off my tail. 

The crab shot up trying to catch them again.

Only this time, the mages were ready and split around the claw.

Unfortunately for them, I had also changed the timing of the soulfire beads, dropping the next round far earlier than previously.

This time, as they wove around Snappy, their highest concern was its claw. They didn't see the two small beads of magic until it was too late as blue fire blossomed right in front of them. 

I detonated both of them close enough to throw both of the mages and their passengers off balance.

Good ol’ Snappy didn't waste that time. Several of those that had fallen towards the ground managed to catch themselves with various elements of magic, but they were already within striking distance. The crab slaughtered them with several swings of its gigantic claw.

The chancellor was joined by two others and massive spells ripped out of each of them. A giant lance of fire, a smokey reaper of death and a saber of light crashed down on Snappy.

Who barely registered the attacks beyond directing his immediate attention to those three. His smaller claw went for one and all three tried to protect against it, only for the claw to cut right through all of their spells, and crush the mage.

I let out a whistle as I watched. “Holy shit. You go Snappy. Get’em.”

He didn’t disappoint. That larger claw moved fast and swept up the other two, before smashing them against the ground and rushing over as his legs pounded the earth beneath him.

Perhaps those attacks had hurt, because Snappy was pissed.

“Ard, look.” Emlyn pointed out two mages survived, one on a bird of ice, and the other on a cloud of lightning.

They both soared back up into the air and away from the crab's range while it was distracted, turning back for Garrish.

I grinned, the plan still going roughly as I had designed.

"Cyam, let's go!" I kicked him into gear, and where once I had been the prey, I became the predator.

We shot through the air like one of Zuri's arrows of light, and Cyam caught up to the one on the ice construct in seconds. 

"Your turn, Maribelle," I shouted, and without hesitation, she launched herself off of Cyam.

A pair of bluesteel daggers appeared from somewhere under Maribelle’s maid skirt before she latched onto the ice construct and sank her blades into the mage with a vivid splatter of red across the ice construct.

I was past them and onto my next target before I could blink. 

"I'm not getting off Cyam like that. You couldn't pay me to do that.” Emlyn shook her head.

“Do I pay you for other things?" I scowled at her over my shoulder playfully. 

"Ard, focus.” Emlyn answered and avoided the question.

“It's okay. We've got this one." I could already tell this mage was younger. Thankfully, this was not one of the chancellors.

The three down below being punished by Snappy appeared to be the only ones.

I pointed two fingers at my target and a bolt of lightning closed the distance even faster than Cyam.

That mage twisted midair, throwing her hands out to stop the bolt of lightning. They had moved as I had expected. And it made it harder for her to fly faster, allowing Cyam to catch up to the lightning mage.

Three manticore claws of ice shot out from my hand, twirling out in front of her and closing in like expertly thrown daggers.

She tried to maneuver, only for my claws to pause midair, morphing into shackles that slapped her hands together.

Then the third claw came in and wrapped around her throat. She struggled, reaching for the ice around her throat and trying to loosen it. It was the human reaction.

Her control over the nimbus of lightning under her feet faltered. Lightning was not solid and flying with it was more difficult than something like ice.

Honestly, I was impressed with her current control. I probably couldn't fly with light if I weren't relying on Cyam's sense of self to stay solid.

Regardless, the faltering of her spell forced me to use the choker of ice to hold her up which only made it worse. 

"Emlyn, give her a good tap on the head, would you?" I asked.

"It would be my pleasure."

I moved us close enough in on Cyam. The sound of Emlyn's blade rang out before the female mage stopped struggling. 

"So we're taking hostages now?" Emlyn asked, looking at the woman suspended midair. 

"Well, since she wasn't one of the chancellors, perhaps she might talk. Regardless, we had two goddesses that are freeloading on my house in the Badlands. It's about time I made them earn their keep." Surely Missy and Ditzy could do something with a hostage.

Emlyn chuckled. "I don't think any other person in the world is bold enough to make a goddess earn her keep." 

I flashed her a smile. "Really, they're not that much different than normal people once you get to know them. They're just really old. And a little bored.”

Em hesitated. “I think you need to be at least a little careful of Aphrodite, Ard." 

"Yeah, yeah. She's very dangerous in her own way, isn't she? She seems like a real man-eater. I can imagine even the male gods weren't getting themselves unwrapped around her fingers once upon a time." 

"At least you understand," Emlyn sounded relieved. "Now, perhaps we should go get Maribelle?" She pointed down where the maid was scurrying about the Badlands. 

"Oh, she's got a second job," I said, pulling down the collar of my tunic to reveal I wasn't wearing my pendants.

Maribelle had already dipped Missy's pendant in at least two of the mage's remains. I could feel that strange minty coolness of soul juice flowing into Soulgard. The two she'd gotten so far didn't seem to be too powerful. They were certainly mages, based on the power I could feel. But I was hoping she would be able to find the remains of the chancellors and give Missy another stab at King Martin. 

I watched the ground to shout out a warning to Maribelle, but the crab had once again disappeared under the surface.

"Alright, we're gonna float up here and wait for her to finish." I put a blindfold around the mage before finishing shackling her and releasing some of the tension around her throat. I didn't need her to die on me. The captive might provide us something we desperately needed now that we were stuck in the Badlands, information about what was happening outside. 

Maribelle must have dipped the talisman in one of the chancellors because suddenly, it felt like I had snorted a pound of ground mint. My mind filled in with a sudden cold clarity under its effect. 

"Before you dump that on me, I want a warning," Emlyn said, watching my reaction as I shook my head back and forth and blinked my eyes, trying to clear the feeling that my brain was about to freeze.

"Just don't say anything too snarky, and I won't drop it on you mid-sentence," I joked, before clarifying, "Don't worry. I don't have any intention of using this until we get back somewhere safer. I think it will take me at least a few minutes to adjust to the new bit of power. I'd rather be somewhere safe to do that."

"As long as you know your limits," Missy said, appearing beside me.

"Missy, welcome back," I grinned at the goddess as Ditzy appeared next to her.

"You brought me such a lovely prize." Missy grinned and rubbed her hands together as she glanced down at Maribelle continuing to try and use the pendant on patches of blood left on the ground.

"I thought you'd be busier." I said. “Didn’t you get a piece of Martin?”

"Oh no, I'm holding that safe for now. I'm not ready yet. Did you get more than one?" she asked.

"There were three, it is a question of if there’s enough left of them for us to use the pendant. Maribelle's down there working on it. Were you both here? For the show?" I asked.

"Oh yes," Ditzy said. "Missy and I were watching from your soul. I must say, that crab, as you called it, was quite the sight."

The raven haired goddess shot the other a glare as if she’d said something she wasn’t supposed to.

"I agree," I said quickly. "Calling it a crab is really a travesty. Perhaps we should go with... Lord Snappy? I feel he deserves a royal title." I came up with the name after a moment of thought.

Emlyn groaned. “I thought we had voted that you would stop naming things.”

“It's not a bad name." I argued. However, both goddesses were giving me strange looks.

"Normally we would give something of that strength a unique name. Perhaps a title.” Ditzy told me.

“Huka, Herbert?" I rubbed my chin. "Karnak. The Lurker," I said after a moment of perhaps a little more seriousness than I really wanted to spend on the topic. “Na, Lord Snappikins or Snappy for short is better.”

Both goddesses exchanged a look. "You know what? After Missy and Ditzy I shouldn’t have held onto any hope," Missy replied. “Why weren’t we given a title though?”

"Well, I can't give you a title," I rolled my eyes, obviously. Though the effect was somewhat diminished.

A moment later, Maribelle hit me with another strong squeeze of soul juice, and I made a face before trying to shake off the effects.

"You were timing that, weren't you?" I narrowed my eyes on Missy.

"I have no idea what you mean," the dark-haired goddess was the picture of innocence, even a faint halo appearing above her head.

"That's okay. That's okay. All is fair in love, war, and banter," I nodded to myself.

"Which one is this? Love or war?” Ditzy smiled and ribbed the goddess next to her.

"I suddenly remember why we weren't that close during the Greek pantheon.” Missy said sourly.

“Because you were also stone faced?” Ditzy offered.

“It wasn’t like you were particularly close with anyone either. Zeus wouldn't stop chasing you, and Hera made your life a living hell because of it. I already had enough problems with Hera," Missy replied, and Aphrodite shrugged.

“She was horrible. Nasty, nasty woman that used every ounce of power to chase other women away from her horndog of a husband.” Ditzy stuck her tongue out.

“Is that why--” Missy started, only for Ditzy to nod along.

“Yup. And, honestly, it's why she worked with Freya to get you condemned.” Ditzy filled in already knowing what Missy was going to ask.

“That bitch," Missy spat. "You're saying if it wasn't for Hera, we’d have been closer?" Missy shifted her focus back to Ditzy.

The blonde bombshell goddess shrugged. "Who knows? We mostly ran in different crowds. You were more of a loner and perhaps some involvement with Hades. And I was a golden girl on Mount Olympus and playing in the waves with Poseidon."

I was about to make another sharp comment, but four more soul juice hits pounded into my body hard enough to make my eyes water.

"I think your Maribelle is done." Missy said as I shook off the effects.

"Oh?" I asked and glanced down, using my connection to cast a sheet of ice underneath Maribelle’s feet and lift her up slowly into the air.

My obsessed maid was a little dirtied from her rush to the Badlands, but otherwise unharmed as she curtsied when she came into view and then hopped on Cyam. She quickly settled directly in my lap. With her arms entwining around my neck, she pulled my lips to hers as she started to kiss me feverishly.

She always liked a reward.

Ditzy cooed to the side. "And here I was worried after I didn't hear anything last night.”

“He must have been really tired. They normally go at it for hours," Missy commented, and the peanut gallery was not helping my situation with Maribelle.

But I decided to ignore both of them, shoving their commentary to the side, and grabbing Maribelle by her blonde curls, and controlling her head, tilting her lips this way and that.

After another long moment of passionate celebration, I pulled her back and put a finger to her lips. "We can do more tonight. I am happy to celebrate as well. But now, I think we need to get back before my soul explodes with all of the soul juice you've given me." I gave Missy a glare.

"Well, it was worth it for me," the goddess grinned. "When you're ready, I'll show you what we can really use this connection to do. I assume you're willing to join me?" She glanced over at Ditzy. 

"Oh, I would love to. Sadly, I don't have such an easy way to provoke her, so I can only follow your lead." With that, Missy and Ditzy disappeared.

I had a feeling both of them had just gone straight into my soul. It seemed everyone was just going to shack up there with or without asking.

Though, Missy technically had permission, and I guess I had shown some acceptance of Ditzy. But it was odd having two goddesses use Soulgard like their own private vacation place. 

After a moment of thought, I decided not to fight the concept. They were being helpful, and I knew when push came to shove, Missy would pay rent. And she wouldn't be cheap about it. Given her acceptance of Ditzy, I could only assume the other goddess would be the same. 

"Alright. If you can keep off of me for a few minutes, Maribelle, I'm going to focus on suppressing all of this energy in my soul until we get back." I could already feel a little of the soul juice bleeding into the anchors connected to me. As soon as I actively started suppressing it passing through, I could feel the two goddesses help as well. Soon the bleed over stopped entirely.

"Thank you." Emlyn let out a little sigh.